Volvo saildrive - drive leg cooling inlets

M

mjfin

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Sep 13, 2010
7
Transit Marine 26 Anacortes
I am installing a new 55 HP Volvo 130S sail drive in my boat. Engine cooling water goes through dinky water inlet holes in the drive leg. Other owners report eels and other marine life getting stuck in the tiny drive leg water inlet.

I would like to bypass the drive leg water inlet and install a separate cooling water inlet in the bottom of the boat, using a thru-hull, seacock, and water filter like on a conventional marine diesel inboard engine installation.

Any problems with this approach? Does the drive leg water inlet have a secondary function, like cooling drive gearing, that would be eliminated with this approach? With the external water inlet should I plug the little drive leg ports? If so how? Warranty issues using this approach?

Anyone with Volvo drive experience with suggestions would be appreciated.
 
njsail

njsail

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Feb 18, 2010
216
Bavaria Ocean 40 CC Forked River
I believe bypassing the cooling water inlets on the leg would be a bad idea. My understanding is the water being pushed through the leg also cools the saildrive gears. Go with volvo recommendation. I haven't had any issues with growth or marine life clogging the leg over the years. A good anti-fouling designed for aluminium is needed. Good luck with the install. Keep us updated.
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

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Jan 25, 2011
2,406
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
I have a 110S sail drive and I have bypassed the internal passages by using a thru hull and strainer. The internal passages only carry water up the passage and do not provide any cooling effect to the sail drive.
 
M

mjfin

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Sep 13, 2010
7
Transit Marine 26 Anacortes
NJ, Mark:

Thanks for the two replies.
Mark: I assume you just left the little ports on the drive leg untouched? How long have you had the external feed installed? Any problems?
 
ENeedz

ENeedz

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Apr 1, 2009
17
Oday 28 Salem, MA
I also have a 130S drive on my Oday 28. I have never had a problem with engine overheating, but have found the inlets pretty full of various criteria. Each year I clean them out with a screw driver or other tool I can use as a gouge. Once I have them all dug out I back flush the drive by hooking up a hose to the line side of the water pump.
You could probably back flush while on the water.

On another topic, have any of you had to replace the o-ring on the s- drive? I'm wondering what I'm in for.
 
Mark Maulden

Mark Maulden

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Jan 25, 2011
2,406
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
I bought this boat three yrs ago and it overheated on the trial sail. A condition of sale was to solve this and the only way it could be done was to bypass the sail drive. I noted at the time that water flow was minimal. I left the openings open and screwed a plug in at the top. Those passages aren't that big and a pain to clean the whole length. I think it may have been replaced by a PO at one time as it looks really good and the rubber seal looks new. I do have some rust control to do. It's been working fine for three years..
 
M

mjfin

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Sep 13, 2010
7
Transit Marine 26 Anacortes
Your comments helped my decision: I am going with the stock Volvo sail drive, and also providing installation space in the bottom of my boat so I can easily switch to external cooling if the sail drive later causes problems.

Thanks for the comments!
 
M

mjfin

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Sep 13, 2010
7
Transit Marine 26 Anacortes
Finally getting to saildrive installation. I found a 150S drive (specified for the D2-75 Volvo) which I may use in place of the 130S drive for my existing Volvo D2-55.

I assume the 150S would work with my D2-55. Anyone know the difference between the two drives, or if it is somehow incompatible with the D2-55?
 
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